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Video: Manhunt: How police captured ‘dangerous’ siblings

>>>the three siblings that spent more than a week on the run from the
fbi
are
behind bars
this morning. they're arrested following a dangerous high-speed chase in
colorado
. miguel, good morning?

>>>ann, good morning to you. all of the siblings are being held here at the
pueblo county
jail. they face four counts of assault on a
peace officer
. the first will be a long laundry list of charges. a caravan and a jail for a family of fugitives who spent eight days on the lam. the
end of the road
for the
dougherty
gang after a high-speed chase here along southern
colorado
's i-25.

>>proceeded at a high-rate of speed. obviously you have individuals who have been identified as very dangerous.

>> reporter: with officers tailing lee grace
dougherty
and brothers dylan and ryan, police say the sibling suspects opened fire on
patrol cars
with an ak-47. officers ahead used so-called
spike strips
to flatten the trio's tires, sending the white sedan crashing into a rail.

>>we heard the gunshots and sirens and we come running out and we see the cops ha s have their guns drawn.

>>police say leigh grace drew a handgun and officers shot her in the leg. one of the brothers was tackled by police. the other captured on foot a short distance away by nearby workers.

>>i told him, hey, there's nowhere to go. just give up now. he proceeded to ignore us. that's when we decided to take him down.

>>for the 20 something siblings with a long criminal history, it's the second high-
speed gun
-blazing chase in eight days.

>>the crime spree occurred when the officers tried to pull the trio over for speeding. police say just five hours later, the
dougherty
gang robbed a bank in georgia using an ak-47 and a
machine gun
.

>>arsenal weapon. weren't afraid to use them.

>>with their faces plastered on billboards from florida to texas, the outlaws made it all the way to
colorado
. tuesday, police say they bought camping gear at this store, then tried to buy ammunition at walmart, following tips the police tailed the dougherties on the the interstate, the bullet pursuit over a mile later.

>>this went as it was supposed to.

>> reporter: three of the most wanted now captured. a fugitive family's cross-country mayhem is over. the
dougherty
gang will face serious charges in three states but because they're arrested here in
colorado
, the legal process will begin here. they could be in court as early as today. ann?

>>miguel almaguiere, thanks very much. cook
taylor
is the sheriff of
pueblo county
,
colorado
. good morning to both of you.

>>good morning.

>>sheriff
taylor
, let me ask you, it's not every day that
armed and dangerous
fugitives are in your jurisdiction. what can you tell us about the citizen's tip and how you responded?

>>the whole investigation was the combination and collaboration between all of the
law enforcement agencies
here in pueblo. the citizens giving us a tip that our initial contact with the individuals down in southern
colorado
and the
state patrol
is incredible chase and stoppage of the vehicle is all put together by collaborating together with each other.

>>on that point, how was it that you were able to take these three in without having any officers hurt and being able to take them down alive when one went down fighting and profilers predicted a shootout, sheriff?

>>well, when you have -- quite frankly, the
state patrol
that's in their professionalism and how they do business, they were chasing the vehicle. they deployed the stop spikes. our deputies were behind them. we got help from another jurisdiction. just everybody working together and the training and everything else that came together that day.

>>okay, can you describe quickly the guns and ammunition that you found on them. also their common?

>>i can't tell you much about the demeanor, i can tell you there were two ak-47s or skss after the car was crashed according to the
state troopers
and my staff that were on scene as well. the
young lay
i cunoung lady had a mack- 11 sub gun when she exited the vehicle and subsequently that was taken to the custody. we're doing an inventory right now for the
state patrol
. we have the vehicle here for the sheriff's office. they'll do that inventory. there were indications of additional weapons in the vehicle. we don't have a complete inveb toir yet.

>>it does seem to be a good example, good cooperation between
local authorities
and the
fbi
. you actually had billboards up with the faces of these fugitives on -- on them. what can you tell us about what worked here?

>>again, a terrific collaboration of local, state, and
federal agencies
sharing rapidly using our tools and
advanced technology
. it started on the
east coast
with both florida and atlanta field office engaging really the media to start that man hunt. and working with the state figs centers relaying to all of the
law enforcement agencies
around the country the
armed and dangerous
nature of the subjects, the
dougherty
family, and, more importantly, things to be cautious of as you approach them. so it was a terrific collaboration. that information was relayed here and then the good citizens of
colorado
started calling in tips which again helped the
fbi
, local and
state agencies
focus their efforts. and then at that point, the
colorado
information and analysis center tore kayak fusion center here in
colorado
passed pertinent intelligence to all of the local, state, and
federal agencies
for us to move in.

>>well, sheriff kurt
taylor
, congratulations to you and all of the officers involve in this effort. thank you so much.

PUEBLO, Colo. — A woman caught with her two brothers after a nationwide manhunt told Colorado authorities she "deserved to get shot," according to an arrest affidavit.

Lee Grace Dougherty, 29, Dylan Dougherty Stanley, 26, and Ryan Edward Dougherty, 21, are being held in Pueblo County, Colo., on bonds of $1.25 million each. The three made their first court appearance Thursday in Pueblo, Colo., appearing by video from jail.

They face charges of attempted murder of a peace officer and assault on a peace officer. The charges stem from allegations that they shot at authorities in Colorado.

Lee Dougherty was shot in the leg by James Chamblerlain, the police chief in Walsenburg, Colo., after she pointed a machine gun at him, according to the affidavit. The document says she later told police, "I deserved to get shot."

Their mother, Barbara Bell of East Palatka, Fla., spoke briefly Thursday to The Associated Press but declined to discuss their ordeal, saying she didn't think it would help them in the long run.

"Thank God they're not tried by the media," she said. "They're tried in a court of law and their story will come out at that time."

Bell hung up the phone shortly after a reporter called, saying she needed to keep the line open for concerned family members to reach her.

"I'm devastated and I'm trying to be strong for other family members," Bell said. "Throughout all of this, I think everybody just wanted it to stop. And now it's over."

The siblings also have no-bond warrants in Georgia and Florida on charges they robbed a bank in Georgia and shot at a police officer in Florida.

"At first it was like, 'Wow, you know, they're shooting at me. And then it turned to I just want to catch them before they hurt anybody," said Zephyrhills, Fla., police officer Kevin Widner said of the confrontation.

After images of the trio were broadcast on television, someone tipped Colorado state troopers and the Pueblo County sheriff around 9 a.m. Wednesday that the suspects might be at a campground south of Colorado Springs, Colo.

A Pueblo County sheriff's detective spotted the car near an interstate highway that day, followed it discreetly until state troopers joined him, and the chase was on.

Lee Dougherty was shot in the leg after she pointed a gun at a police officer near the car, authorities said, adding that she was trying to escape on foot. Another one of the suspects was apprehended after a brief foot chase.

Three highway workers reportedly helped track and capture that sibling. Dave Dallaguardia told ABC's "Good Morning America" Thursday that he followed Ryan Dougherty in his truck even after the fugitive had motioned at him as if he had a gun.

Dallaguardia said he had no idea he was chasing one of the Dougherty siblings and his wife later scolded him for pursuing him. He said he and his co-workers came from small, blue-collar towns.

"If you need to lend a hand, you lend a hand and help people out," Dallaguardia said.

FBI agent Jim Yacone told NBC's TODAY show that the eight-day search was a "terrific collaboration between agencies," but that Colorado residents played an integral role in the investigation.

The tight-knit — and normally tight-lipped — towns near the rugged San Isabel National Forest in southern Colorado seemed unsurprised about the brief but intense nationwide search for two brothers and a sister accused of shooting at a police officer in Florida and robbing a bank in Georgia.

"It's kind of backwoods around here, plenty of places to hide," said Becky Garcia, a waitress and bartender at Viktorio's Pizzeria in Colorado City. "What I can't believe it that they were dumb enough to get on the interstate. They could have made it. Then they went and got on the interstate. How stupid."

They didn't stand out to some. Jaimie Clark, 18, an employee at the Colorado City gas station where the siblings were spotted before their arrest on Wednesday, said her co-worker who was working the cash register at the time didn't recognize the trio as fugitives, and they didn't strike her as suspicious.

"They just came in, grabbed a few snacks, got gas and left," Clark said. "She couldn't even recall what they got because they just came in like regular customers."

Clark said given what the siblings were accused of in other states, she and her co-workers are relieved that nothing happened at the gas station.

"The fact that they came in here peacefully, we're extremely thankful for," she said.

Their notoriety didn't go unnoticed by everyone after their images were splashed across television reports. Someone tipped Colorado state troopers and the sheriff's office at about 9 a.m. Wednesday that the suspects might be at a campground south of Colorado Springs.

A Pueblo County sheriff's detective spotted the car near an interstate highway Wednesday, followed it discreetly until state troopers joined him, and the chase was on.

AK-47 rounds were fired at the four patrol cars during the pursuit south on the interstate, where speeds exceeded 100 mph, said Lt. Col. Anthony Padilla of the Colorado State Patrol.

Colorado State Patrol via AP

In this photo provided by the Colorado State Patrol, authorities investigate the scene where three fugitive siblings wanted in a crime spree in Florida and Georgia were captured Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2011.

In Walsenburg, troopers deployed spiked stop strips across the interstate. A tire was punctured on the Subaru, sending it rolling and crashing into a guardrail.

Lee Dougherty was shot in the leg after she pointed a gun at a police officer near the car, authorities said, adding that she was trying to escape on foot. Another one of the suspects was apprehended after a brief foot chase.

The three suspects were treated at a Walsenburg hospital — Lee Dougherty for the gunshot wound and her brothers for injuries suffered in the crash — and were later transferred to Pueblo County Jail. They face four charges each of first-degree assault on a peace officer. They also have no-bond warrants in Georgia and Florida.

"These three have a big legal mess in front of them and at some point they'll face charges in all those jurisdictions," FBI Special Agent Phil Niedringhaus said.

No one could say why the three ended up in Colorado, though Niedringhaus offered his own idea.

"They were here because they were running," he said.

Other fugitives have chosen the Rocky Mountain wilderness for a hideout. Last month, police nabbed a convicted murderer from Florida, 60-year-old Mark Barrett, who was discovered living in a remote cabin in Montrose, Colo., after more than three decades on the run.

And last summer, a prison escapee from Arizona was captured in rural Rifle, Colo.

A Rocky Mountain escape made sense to a handful of locals gathered for pizza and beer at Viktorio's after the chase. Asked why they thought the fugitives fled here, some just pointed toward snowcapped peaks just to the west.

"It's as good a place as any to disappear, I guess," Garcia said.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.